Warning: new FARK copyright policy steals your copyright

[mikemikeb]

I’m too lazy to go read, but does image shack have a similar policy as putfile?

Currently, no.

[chakalakasp]

No, imageshack’s policy is much better:

All files are ? to their respective owners. ImageShack? directs full legal responsibility of files to their respective users. All other content ? ImageShack?. ImageShack? is not responsible for the content any uploaded files, nor is it in affiliation with any entities that may be represented in the uploaded files.

[Curious]

No, imageshack’s policy is much better:

for a site that only hosts it’s fine. seems to me it’s different with fark.

[anneb]

So, a few days later: How’s the stuff with the lawyers and terms of use shaking out?

Here’s an opposing view. It’s the terms and conditions for submitting something to the BBC news site:

In contributing to BBC News you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way that we want, and in any media worldwide. This may include the transmission of the material by our overseas partners; these are all reputable foreign news broadcasters who are prohibited from altering the material in any way or making it available to other UK broadcasters or to the print media. (See the Terms and Conditions for the full terms of our rights.)

It’s important to note, however, that you still own the copyright to everything you contribute to BBC News and that if your image and/or video is accepted, we will endeavour to publish your name alongside it on the BBC News website. Please note that due to operational reasons this accreditation will probably not be possible with video. The BBC cannot guarantee that all pictures and/or video will be used and we reserve the right to edit your comments.

(full terms at http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/)

That’s pretty clear, and something I have no trouble working with.

It’s good to know Drew’s heart is in the right place, but I can’t have the same faith for what happens once lawyers get involved, and that gives me major pause. It becomes really fuzzy, as well, if I submit a photo that has a copyright notice in the file info in photoshop, say, or I put a creative commons license on it when I” upload it over on flickr. Does flickr trump fark?

It makes me pretty anxious, and even though I’ve been looking forward to the Sports theme, I’m leaning to where Chakaclasp and Analogy are coming from, since I don’t want to rule out anything right now.

[Elsinore]

I’ll email Drew and find out where things are. I know they got slammed with a lot of stuff in the last week, but I definitely want to make sure the issue doesn’t fall by the wayside.

[Elsinore]

Just heard back from Drew. He said they’re hoping to have the new policy in place later today, so hopefully this will be fully resolved before Farktography this evening.

[anneb]

Thanks, Elsinore! You’re the best!

[Analogy]

Sweeet, I was worried about not being able to participate in this one since my sports shots are technically for hire so I can’t give the copyright away.

[Elsinore]

Well technically, in order to post the pictures to Farktography, you’re supposed to be the copyright holder. If it’s work for hire, do you still hold the copyright or just a license?

[Curious]

Drew posted the final version on totalfark and in the PSAEF at 5:32:52

PSAEF here http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=6&hoursago=48&hours=48&ok=1

INAL but i think you all will like it and can live with it. even those that sell their work.

[Elsinore]

It’s updated officially in the FArQ as well:
http://www.fark.com/farq/legal.shtml

[swampa]

Where is the short version of the copyright policy? That was way to many words for this early hour of the morning! 😛

I am glad that this seems to be resolved quickly so we can get back to posting pics 😀

Thanks Elsinore for bugging Drew on our behalf!

[Elsinore]

lol yeah, it’s about 10 times as long as the previous version, eh? In short, it explicitly states that submitters either must be copyright holders or are affirming they have permission to post whatever they post, and that copyright holders retain ownership of their works. Fark gets a non-exlusive, royalty free, transferable license to reproduce the submissions.

[Analogy]

Yeah, I have a license from the people I shoot for to reproduce my work, mostly for the purposes of my portfolio and demo reel.

[millera9]

Thanks for keeping up on this Elsinore. I’m much happier with this new policy, though I’m not sure why it needs to be a transferrable license. In any case, I will be posting tonight and for the forseeable future. Hopefully the rest of you will feel the same and stick around!

/I will also be writing a Farkback to Drew to thank him for his quick reaction to the criticism of this issue. It’s tough to turn stuff like this around in under a week. I encourage anyone else who’s happier with the new policy to do the same.

[Author]

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